I just got back to beautiful S.C.. A little sad that I'm no longer in the smokies, but it sure was nice to be there for 4 days. I'll get right to the point, which is discussing my fishing results for the weekend. I'm happy to hear that lots of people have been giving Byron great reports for this weekend, unfortunately with the exception of Friday I am not one of those people. Got in town Friday thinking the park would be swamped. Drove up to Metcalf Bottoms approx. 3:00 p.m. to find the place absolutely empty with the exception of a few picnicers(I know this is a typo). I can never resist open water at Metcalf so My wife and I suited up and jumped in. Gave my wife a double rig, a Green Weenie with a Barbie Bug trailing it on 5x flouro. She managed to catch three rainbows, a 3", 6" and lastly a nice 10". All fish took the Barbie instead of the Green Weenie. After that we drove back to the Middle Prong where we caught anouther 6 fish, all rainbows the biggest of which went about 9". My wife hooked but missed several on Middle prong that were in the 8-9" range. This time it was a #10 BH Pheasant Tail with splitshot down deep. Seemed like every hole that had at least 3-4 feet of depth produced a good bite. I also forgot to mention I fished one spot a little wasy above metcalf where I caight one small bow on a parachute adams. FRIDAYS Total: 10 fish, all rainbows.

SATURDAY: I went back above Metcalf and fished a variety of nymphs and dries. I only managed to land 2 fish, again rainbows, and nothing bigger than about 7". Had several other bites, but where I was the fishing just didn't seem that hot compared to past experiences in the area I was fishing.

SUNDAY: Again I fished in between Metcalf and Elkmont. Fished Green Weenies and Parachute adams. I had several takes on both. Landed a total of 3, all rainbows again, biggest approx. 9". While I was getting bites, the fishing again just didn't feel as good as it has been at times to me in the past with similar water conditions.

MONDAY: Headed back home through the park. Stopped at the chimneys trailhead for a few minutes to see if I could catch my first brookie. Tied on a stimulator and it seemed like the fish were slapping at it, but not really eating it b/c I wasn't getting the hook in any of them. Saw some fish in a deeper pool, tied on the Green Weenie with splitshot, caught a nice 8" bow on the first cast. Move to the next pool and caught another 6-7" bow and had a really strong bite that I didn't even have to to react and set the hook before the fish was gone. Went to the next pool and quickly caught another 6" bow. Then the rain came down big time and my fishing for the weekend sadly came to an end.

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Assessment: Probably fished for a total of about 10-12 hours over the 4 days. Managed a total of 18 fish which isn't bad for me and my wife given the amount of time on the water. I'm only beet at it for about 3 yrs in the smokies, so I'm no expert.

Biggest Dissapointments: 1. NO BROOKIES
2. NO BROWNS, This has happened to me in about 2 years.
3. The 13-14" rainbow I missed above Metcalf Bottoms. At the end of
my day on sunday, decided to tie on a Helgramite. Tossed it into a deep
run, saw a little twitch in my leader, gave a VERY WEAK hookset, pulled
this fish off the bottom up to the surface where he flipped one time and
the fly popped right out.

I noticed the same thing above Metcalf. I fished Saturday where the road turns to Elkmont and cught 4 bow's one about 10". Fished yesterday at the same spot and caught only 2. I quit when the rain began. The water temp was cool 64 and it should have been ideal. I don't know why it was soo tough for me. I stopped at LRO and Byron was telling me that Sunday was good all over. I was home Sunday of course.

sc,
i noticed the same thing about the brookies just slappin at it but not taking it. we tried going from a size 14 stimmie to 16. got a few more hookups. didnt help that much though. glad you got to be in the park this weekend catchin some fish. i was stuck on the caney . glad you had a good time

scflyfisher:
I am glad you had a nice trip to the park. I always carry a stream thermometer and check the water temps in the current freqently. The water temps around Metcalf have been running to high for me to fish those areas over the last couple of months. I have been fishing areas where the water stays between 58-62 degrees F. That is probably the main reason for sluggish fishing below Elkmont. The next time the fish seem to slap at your fly and you have trouble hooking up, bend the gape of the hook slightly to one side of the fly and make sure the fly stays sharp. I have gotten frustrated with missing fish
before and it was because the hookpoint had dulled somwhat from ticking rocks or snagging on limbs.